BREAKING: Lungu family finally appeals repatriation judgement in SA Supreme Court
EDGAR Lungu’s family has finally filed a notice of appeal in the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) of South Africa, almost two months after the Court granted it leave to appeal.
This comes a day after the Economic and Financial Crimes Court (EFCC) ordered the forfeiture of 79 vehicles and 23 properties including a filling station and double storey luxury aparments, which Lungu gifted to his son Dalitso.
In court documents seen by Kalemba, the former first family have appealed against the judgment of the Full bench of the Pretoria High Court which ordered that Lungu’s remains be handed over to the Zambian government for repatriation and burial with full state honours.
In a notice, dated February 9, 2026, the family led by former first lady Esther Lungu are asking the Supreme Court of Appeal, to overturn the Pretoria High Court’s ruling of August 8, 2025, which had unanimously ruled in favour of the Zambian government.
The family is also seeking an order which would dismiss government’s application, with costs.
“Take notice that pursuant to leave to appeal having been granted by this Honourable Court on 23 December 2025, the Appellants hereby note an appeal to this Honourable Court against the whole of the judgment and order of the Full Court of the Gauteng Division, Pretoria (per Ledwaba AJP, Modau ADJP and Potterill J), dated 8 August 2025, under case number 096565/2025, in which the Court granted the First Respondent’s application and made no order as to costs,” part of the document.
Edgar Lungu died on June 5, 2025, at a clinic in South Africa and his remains have since been kept at a South African funeral home.
The standoff began after the family reversed plans to repatriate Lungu’s body to Zambia in June last year, a move that disrupted a national mourning programme declared by President Hakainde Hichilema.
The family later announced intentions to bury the former president pri